Hamlet Act 3 Scene 3
There is no concrete evidence to support the claim that there is a god, and yet milleniums have been spent fighting over different religious beliefs and practices.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare dramatizes the 16th century Europe’s spiritual uncertainty and religious influence in combination with a story about the character
Hamlet’s revenge on his uncle Claudius whom is assumed to be guilty of a homicide to his own brother, and an incestual marriage. Act 3 Scene 3 of Hamlet is a display of
Claudius’ inner thoughts, and acts as an assurance of the previous assumptions made earlier in the production. The story of Hamlet takes place in 16th century Europe, which is a time period wellknown for the Protestant Reformation. At this point in time, the everyday lifestyle of
Europeans were dominated by the unsure nature of religion, which ultimately shaped
Hamlet’s thoughts. Since Hamlet attended Wittenberg, a university in Denmark which is also where Martin Luther proposed his 95 Theses, he inherited the Protestant beliefs which viewed the marriage between Claudius and his mother Gertrude as incestual.
Earlier in the play, Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father who claims to be in purgatory due to the fact that he was killed before ever making his last confession, which is a controversial element to defining Hamlet’s religion because Protestants did not believe in purgatory. In fact, that was one of the main components of the Protestant religion, which reflects some religious and spiritual confusion throughout the story
(Historyworld.org, n.d.).
Later on in Act 3 Scene 3 of Hamlet, he finds it morally disturbing to kill the King midprayer due to the belief that Claudius would go to heaven if he was killed after cleansing his soul, but little did he know that Claudius was actually unable to pray due to the immense amount of guilt weighing eating away at his conscience. This scene is a pivotal moment in the story where Claudius
Hamlet by William Shakespeare dramatizes the 16th century Europe’s spiritual uncertainty and religious influence in combination with a story about the character
Hamlet’s revenge on his uncle Claudius whom is assumed to be guilty of a homicide to his own brother, and an incestual marriage. Act 3 Scene 3 of Hamlet is a display of
Claudius’ inner thoughts, and acts as an assurance of the previous assumptions made earlier in the production. The story of Hamlet takes place in 16th century Europe, which is a time period wellknown for the Protestant Reformation. At this point in time, the everyday lifestyle of
Europeans were dominated by the unsure nature of religion, which ultimately shaped
Hamlet’s thoughts. Since Hamlet attended Wittenberg, a university in Denmark which is also where Martin Luther proposed his 95 Theses, he inherited the Protestant beliefs which viewed the marriage between Claudius and his mother Gertrude as incestual.
Earlier in the play, Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father who claims to be in purgatory due to the fact that he was killed before ever making his last confession, which is a controversial element to defining Hamlet’s religion because Protestants did not believe in purgatory. In fact, that was one of the main components of the Protestant religion, which reflects some religious and spiritual confusion throughout the story
(Historyworld.org, n.d.).
Later on in Act 3 Scene 3 of Hamlet, he finds it morally disturbing to kill the King midprayer due to the belief that Claudius would go to heaven if he was killed after cleansing his soul, but little did he know that Claudius was actually unable to pray due to the immense amount of guilt weighing eating away at his conscience. This scene is a pivotal moment in the story where Claudius
References: History World International. "THE REFORMATION." THE REFORMATION. Historyworld.org, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. Shakespeare, William. Trans. Burton Raffel. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Google Books. Yale University Press, 2003. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.